The Little Swiss Ski Chalet

by Julie Caplin

  Amelie was sitting with a cup of coffee on the table, looking as if she were about to fall asleep.

  ‘Are you OK?’ asked Mina, faintly alarmed at the weariness dragging at her godmother’s eyes. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’

  Amelie jumped up. ‘Absolutely fine. Everything’s under control. I’m just waiting for the potatoes to boil. And the girls will be here in half an hour to lay the tables in the dining room. Johannes has chopped some wood for me and is keeping an eye on the fire in the salon.’

  She crossed to the oven and took off one of the lids over the big boiling pots. ‘Yes, they’re nearly done. Why don’t you go up? There’s a good two hours before dinner, I’m sure you’ll want to freshen up and change after all that skiing this afternoon.’

  ‘If you’re sure you don’t need any help.’ The thought of a bath was extremely welcome.

  ‘No, no. It’s nearly all done the. I hope everyone is hungry, although I’ve made extra as there are another six coming in for dinner this evening.’

  ‘Gosh, cooking for twenty-six. That’s a lot of work.’

  ‘Don’t you start. I’ve got enough trouble with Johannes fussing. He’s such an old woman.’

  ‘He’s a big fan of your cooking.’

  ‘He’s just in a good mood because I said yes to his chocolates.’

  ‘What’s wrong with them? Aren’t they any good?’

  ‘Good? They are wonderful. Stupid man is very stubborn about letting anyone know much about them.’

  ‘I know,’ sighed Mina. ‘I asked him if I could see him at work.’

  ‘And he said no.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘We’ll have to see what we can do about that.’ Amelie’s eyes narrowed in quick thought. ‘I guess he’s like me, doesn’t like anyone interfering in his kitchen.’

  ‘You didn’t mind me helping this morning.’

  ‘You know what you’re doing, and you are family,’ said Amelie placidly. ‘It’s not as if I have much, at least not interesting, family. You, my dear, are always interesting. Talking of which, have you any plans for tomorrow?’

  ‘Not yet but I might go out and practise my cross-country skiing. I felt like I got the hang of it today. Luke was a good teacher.’

  ‘Excellent.’ Amelie beamed at her. ‘He’s such a lovely boy, and that was very kind of him to take you out.’

  ‘It was, especially when I wiped him out earlier today.’ Mina smiled, thinking of the moment they’d tumbled down together, and his easy smiles. Nothing seemed to faze him. ‘But if you’re doing something…’

  ‘No. No. Tomorrow is an easy day. I’ll be making bread tomorrow morning because we’re having fondue for dinner, and I’m making zigercake. The ski bunnies will be off early to get the train back to the city. The girls come in and strip all the beds mid-morning and make up the new ones. Monday evening is very releaxed, so it’s my rest day. and tomorrow I don’t plan to do anything other than go for a nice walk, if you’d like to come with me. I can point out a few things help you get your bearings.’

  Amelie looked like she needed a rest. There were dark purple smudges beneath her eyes and her shoulders sagged slightly as if they were weighed down by the enormous sacks of flour she kept in the larder.

  ‘That would be lovely, and I can help before we go out.’

  Amelie looked as if she were about to shake her head, and Mina laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘Seriously, I don’t mind, and I love learning new recipes. Cooking is my hobby.’ It was a shame it had turned into her work as well, although that was a lot less satisfying. ‘What’s in a – what was it? – a zigercake?’

  ‘Ziger,’ said Amelie with a laugh. ‘It’s rather like a cheesecake, using a Swiss cheese similar to ricotta, although it’s firmer and crumblier, so works really well in this recipe. It has no flour and is made with eggs, lemon, sugar, and garnished with toasted flaked almonds. And I’ll teach you how to make it. In fact, I might take shameless advantage of you, and get you to help make the cakes in advance for Tuesday.

  ‘That’s my very busy day. I take everything to the laundry in Brig, collect the new sheets, and go to the wholesalers for supplies. I need to get all that done before midday as I have a few people arriving, and they’re staying until Friday.’

  She glanced out of the window. ‘In fact, if you help me tomorrow, we could do my favourite walk. It’s a seven-kilometre trail up the valley, and then I can get the train back. To be honest, I haven’t been out properly for a couple of weeks. Johannes keeps asking me, but there never seem to be enough hours in the day.’

  ‘Gosh, don’t you want to put your feet up?’

  ‘And miss the mountains?’ Amelie shook her head vehemently. ‘I can rest plenty when I’m dead. Monday is the only real chance I get to take a good long walk and shake the cobwebs loose. There’s no point living here if you don’t experience the snow.’

  After being out today and still feeling ruddy-cheeked, Mina could appreciate that.

  Chapter Ten

  Mina lowered herself into the warm pine-scented water in the rather wonderful freestanding, very contemporary bath, feeling her aching muscles immediately go ‘aah’ and relax. Much as she’d enjoyed it, the skiing was now making itself felt.

  She was looking forward to dinner, trying Amelie’s stew and enjoying the light-hearted camaraderie of the dining room, now that she knew a few people. There was something so welcoming about the chalet and she spent a while trying to analyse exactly how Amelie had achieved it. Good food, obviously. Amelie was a great cook, but there was more. Although there were a range of ages and people from different backgrounds, everyone seemed to get along and be happy to chat to each other. Even Johannes, who she suspected tended towards the irascible, seemed to mellow in the cosy lounge over cake. All the guests were so friendly. Surely Amelie didn’t handpick them all. Clearly a lot of them came back. Over cake she’d discovered that both Bernhardt and Kristian would be back the following weekend. She had a feeling that Amelie was like the soft delicious sponge in the Solothurner cake that held everything together. You couldn’t see it, but you quickly realised it was there when you took the first delicious bite. Amelie was what made this place, she was a unique hostess and Mina doubted her hospitality could be replicated.

  In danger of falling asleep, she hauled herself out of the bath into a sumptuous soft white bath sheet and padded through to the bedroom. Night had fallen now, and through the windows the glow of the lights was reflected on the snow. She would never get tired of this view, or the way the shadows fell on the soft, plump pillows of snow piled high on the roofs, walls, and ledges.

  Dressing in her favourite black trousers, she spritzed some perfume and checked herself in the mirror, conscious of the muffled noises coming from next door. Her heart did that silly expanding thing at the thought of Luke. What was she going to do about that? Clearly there was serious chemistry between them. There was no denying he was gorgeous, had a great personality, and she’d enjoyed his company enormously, but she had no business starting a relationship with anyone, certainly not now when she was supposed to be focusing on getting her priorities sorted. But it was getting harder and harder to keep him out of his head, and to stop her body responding to the mere flipping sight of him. She glared at the book lying on her bed and with a sigh snatched it up. At least reading it, she felt as if she were doing something towards ‘sorting herself out’. Ian’s words had stung more than she’d realised at the time and she kept dwelling on them, going back over them like a tongue drawn to a jagged tooth. She had half an hour before dinner was served.

  Know Yourself

  * * *

  Before you can truly understand what it is you want, you need to be true to yourself and identify those values at your very core. What are the things that are important to you?

  * * *

  Think about the things that:

  Excite and enthuse you

  Make you want to get out of bed in the morning

/>   Are the most precious to you

  Make you the person you are

  Mina huffed out a sigh. Like Hannah said, stating the bleeding obvious. Pulling on her down coat, she opened the French doors and went out onto the balcony to what she now considered her thinking spot.

  Food, adventure, travel, and chocolate – they all excited and enthused her. She narrowed her eyes. She really needed to butter Johannes up to see how chocolate was made. It would be crazy to come to what many people considered the home of chocolate and not learn more about it. If she couldn’t persuade Johannes, she would have to visit one of the chocolate factories that the girl in the shop mentioned. Perhaps there were some leaflets downstairs that she could investigate.

  In fact, she’d go down now and take a look. Shrugging off her coat, she dumped it on the armchair and gave herself a quick once-over in the mirror. Her face, despite a liberal application of high-factor sunscreen, had taken on a golden hue which was enhanced with a quick slick of pink sparkly lipstick. OK, so she was being vain, but she was pleased with the wholesome, healthy reflection that smiled back at herself. She’d do.

  She hadn’t really taken much notice of the wooden rack of leaflets since she’d arrived, but one caught her eye immediately and she grabbed it. No! There couldn’t be. A cheese and chocolate train? Cheese and chocolate, what was not to like? As she scanned the text, her excitement mounted and her tastebuds began to tingle. It sounded like her idea of heaven, especially as it took in Gruyère, one of her favourite cheeses, and then went on to one of the top chocolate factories in Switzerland, Maison Cailler. Not just that, the train was made up of vintage Pullman coaches, which looked wonderful and reminded her of pictures of the Orient Express.

  ‘I’ve always fancied doing that.’ She didn’t need to turn around; at the sound of his voice, her stomach had done that familiar loop-the-loop.

  ‘Luke.’ As usual she couldn’t help smiling back at him. ‘It looks so much fun,’ she said. ‘The scenery is supposed to be spectacular. And I bet the cheese and chocolate aren’t half bad either,’ she added. ‘I really want to know more about making chocolate. Let’s go,’ she said, impulsive as ever. She believed if you really wanted to do something you went for it. Wasn’t that what the book was telling her? Find the things she did want to do. Did this count?

  There was a wonderful Mark Twain quote that said you were more likely to regret the things you didn’t do than those you did, and it was so true. She still regretted not going to see Green Day when she was offered tickets when she was eighteen. She should have fought a lot harder about not going to her cousin’s wedding. They were only invited to the evening bit anyway. It still rankled all these years on. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to go. ‘I’m never going to get the chance to go on a cheese and chocolate train again. Or possibly travel in vintage Pullman carriages, which look lovely.’ She paused and then asked, ‘But I have no idea what they are. Is Pullman something special?’

  Luke laughed. ‘They were made in the early part of the twentieth century, and at the time were very luxurious. They still are. And I would love to go, it’s one of the classic rail journeys in Switzerland. The only thing is, it would be quite complicated getting there. The train leaves Montreux at 8:44.’ He pointed to the very precise time in the leaflet.

  ‘And how far away is Montreux?’

  ‘At least three hours by train.’

  Her face fell. ‘Hmm. I’ll have to have a think.’ The train trip itself was seven hours long. Even she had to accept that perhaps a thirteen-hour day wasn’t completely practical.

  ‘Fancy coming snowboarding on Tuesday, then? Test out your skateboarding skills. The slopes will be much quieter as the weekend crowd has left.’

  Her face fell. ‘I’d love to, but I said I’d go to Brig with Amelie.’ And she really did feel that Amelie would appreciate the company as much as the help. This was quite an operation for one person.

  ‘If you really fancy it, I could go on Wednesday or Thursday. My work is flexible, so I can rearrange easily.’

  ‘I thought you said you were between posts.’

  Luke frowned for a second before nodding. ‘ I am. But I also have a… a freelance job that I’m working on.’ He paused studying her face for a moment. ‘Would you like to see?’

  ‘See?’

  The familiar grin flashed back at her. ‘See what I do. It’s a sort of hobby.’

  Now she was intrigued. ‘OK.’

  ‘You’d have to come up to my room.’

  She raised an eyebrow.

  He laughed. With a nod towards the stairs, he added, ‘Come on then, we’ve just got time before dinner.’

  Mina’s curiosity worked overtime as they climbed the staircase. ‘Can you give me any clues?’

  ‘You’ll never guess in a million years.’ His expression was ever so slightly smug, but also filled with amusement. ‘I make things.’

  Never one to back down from a challenge, she narrowed her eyes. ‘You knit,’ she said remembering the chunky red scarf.

  He shook his head.

  ‘You paint.’

  ‘Stick men, I’m afraid.’

  ‘You… you make jigsaw puzzles.’

  With a laugh, he shook his head. ‘Where did that come from?’

  She shrugged. ‘You’re a potter,’ and she kept guessing with each shake of his head. ‘You press flowers.’ ‘You make lederhosen.’ That got another bark of laughter. ‘You carve things.’ ‘You make jewellery.’ By the time they reached the top floor, she’d run out of ideas and Luke was laughing so hard that he could barely open his door.

  ‘Here you go.’ He ushered her into the room, which was a little bigger than hers with a large work table in front of one of the big balcony doors. Her mouth curved instantly and she darted forward to examine the rolls of mod rock, tins of paint, paintbrushes, bottles of track magic, and a scattering of little trees strewn around the perimeter of the work surface.

  She turned around and beamed.

  ‘You’re a modeller,’ she said with delighted surprise, pleased to see she’d taken him unawares.

  The items were as familiar to her as cooking ingredients, although the vintage suitcase in the middle of it all intrigued her. She picked up one of the tiny trees and twirled it between her fingers.

  ‘How did you know? I was going to make you keep guessing.’

  ‘Sorry,’ she grinned at him unapologetically. ‘My Uncle D spends hours making landscapes for his model railway. He has all this stuff.’

  ‘Ah, but there’s more.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said, turning back to the table. ‘The suitcase. I remember seeing that on the train and wondering about it. Vintage. Cute. But and an odd choice for a man going skiing with a rucksack in the other hand.’

  ‘Very good. You could give Sherlock a run for his money.’

  He moved forward so that he was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her and then leaned down to plug something into the mains and pulled the suitcase to the edge of the table.

  With a touch of showmanship, he waited for a couple of seconds, heightening the anticipation. It was almost like waiting for a kiss, thought Mina, and immediately sneaked a glance at his mouth.

  He caught her and his expression softened, as his eyes roved over her face. She swallowed and wished he would kiss her, despite telling him otherwise only a few hours ago. He made a tiny move towards her.

  ‘So,’ she said, over-bright, deliberately breaking eye-contact. ‘What’s in the case?’

  With a knowing smile, as if he knew exactly what sort of a big fat coward she was, he lifted the lid.

  Mina clapped her hands in delight. ‘That is gorgeous. Oh Luke, it’s beautiful.’

  Inside the case was a miniature model village, every detail minutely captured, with a tiny train track wending its way around green fields, past thatched cottages and through a little station.

  ‘It’s not quite finished. I’ve got a couple of hours more work on it
.’

  ‘Oh my goodness, I’ve never seen anything so cute in my life. What a brilliant idea.’

  He pressed a switch and she watched as a tiny train made its way along the track which ran around the very English village, drinking in all the details, from the little duck pond on the central green, the miniature bride and groom outside the church, the old-fashioned fire engine beside a singed haystack, through to the row of cottages beside the railway station.

  ‘What gauge is it?’ she asked in wonderment.

  ‘Er…’ Luke seemed surprised and gratified at the same time. ‘It’s an N gauge, nine millimetre. How did you…?’

  ‘Uncle Derek. I told you. He used to go this big model railway show at the NEC every year, and when I was younger, I used to go with him. Someone had to make sure he’d get there in one piece, and the whole train thing bored Hannah rigid, and I didn’t mind. It’s amazing what you pick up.’

  Luke laughed and hugged her. ‘Mina, you are one in a million.’

  ‘You’re pretty special yourself.’ She slipped her arms around his waist. ‘This is just the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen. Absolutely gorgeous.’

  ‘Yes,’ he said, looking down at her with that direct, uncompromising look that she’d come to know just a little too well, and she knew he wasn’t talking about the train in the suitcase. Unlike her, Luke had no intention of hiding or fighting his attraction to her and unfortunately it made him all the more attractive.

  Deliberately turning away, she reached out and touched the tiny glossy fire engine. ‘So what happens to it when it’s finished? Do you sell it?’

  ‘This one has been specially commissioned as a retirement present for someone. I work with a lady in the UK, a friend of my parents, she sources the vintage cases and the commissions, and I come up with the design and make the models.

  ‘She set up a couple of years ago and it’s growing slowly and surely. This one has to be finished by the end of this week. I’ll take it into Brig and get it shipped. Then I have another one to start, this time they want the Scottish Highlands.’ He pointed to another brown leather case under the table.